Star stayers to put on a show at the Bridge
It looms as a tantalising precursor to the upcoming State National Distance Series as SA stars Sir Truculent and Fantastic Radley face-off over the 680m this Thursday night at Murray Bridge.
This will be the second time the talented stayers have squared up over the 680m distance at the Bridge with Fantastic Radley getting the better of Sir Truculent the first time on June 10th. On that occasion he managed to reel the 2020 SA Greyhound of the Year in the final stages, setting a then track-record time of 38.63 seconds. Since that win, Fantastic Radley has continued on his merry way winning the next four over the trip including breaking his own track record on July 1st posting an impressive 38.54 second win. He goes into Thursday night’s race with a winning streak of 6 with an imposing record of seven wins and a second from his 8 starts overall at the track.
Fantastic Radley in action at Murray Bridge.
Meanwhile, Sir Truculent has found himself another purple patch of form since that race which was his second look at the distance trip at Murray Bridge. ‘The Truck’ made another venture up north to Queensland where he has previously had success under master trainer Tony Brett in the Group Listed Garrard’s Gold Cup in February of this year. After a third placing in the Super Stayers Invitational at Albion Park, Sir Truculent set his sights on the Group 1 Queensland Cup where he won his heat in fantastic fashion on July 1st, setting the fastest time of the night. Despite the great win in the heats, ‘The Truck’ drifted to double figure odds before the start with SA punters no doubt jumping onboard knowing he was a big chance. He began well again to sit just off the leader for the first half of the race before putting his foot down on the back straight and rattling home to win by 5 lengths in 41.58 seconds, delivering his first Group 1 win to owner Wally Harkins. The next ‘Truck stop’ was at Ipswich on Saturday July 17th for the Ipswich Grand Prix where he faced a similar field for the same result – another great win in a feature race.
Sir Truculent racing in the SpeedStar in Victoria.
There is no doubt ‘The Truck’ loves Queensland and obviously works well with trainer Tony Brett so the only question that remains for fans is whether the Truck can bring that ‘away’ form with him back home. Soon after winning the Queensland Cup, owner Wally Harkins was already looking forward to the match up of the two stayers in the Distance Series, “I have been watching Fantastic Radley at Murray Bridge and really look forward to some great competition between them,”
Racecaller Tim Edwards is also keen to seeing how the race unfolds, “It’s a question of whether the ‘New Kid On The Bridge’, Fantastic Radley can prove himself again and beat the Champ a 2nd time in a row. It’s set to be a great race.”
Don’t miss it! The race jumps as Race 4 on the program at 7:49pm Thursday night with Fantastic Radley jumping from box 1, Sir Truculent from box 3 while Tapestry Tears and New Year Tears will be looking to cause a boilover from box 5 and 7 respectively.
The last time they met at Murray Bridge on June 10.